


(Not a) Failure

by ifdragonscouldtalk



Series: DBH Brothers Whump AU [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bombs, Canon-Typical Violence, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Whump, CyberLife Tower Connor is Conan, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Guns, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, MIND THE TAGS!, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), RK900 is Nines, Suicidal Thoughts, Whump, but read with caution, from the bad guy not from Connor, lots of connor whumpage, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 21:44:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15615684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifdragonscouldtalk/pseuds/ifdragonscouldtalk
Summary: It had been like dominoes falling, a butterfly effect that started with their faces and ended with his mind snapping. He had ordered the others to cuff them -- smart, but probably just paranoia, since it was unlikely he knew who they were -- and then gone after Hank and Gavin and tightened them to the point it was painful. Connor hated it. Hated the feeling of being bound. But as long as Conan and Nines were next to him, he wasn’t helpless.





	(Not a) Failure

**Author's Note:**

> Suicidal thoughts from the guy holding them hostage, please read with caution! Lots of gun waving. Mind the tags!  
> If enough people are interested I might write a chapter from each character's perspective (this first one being Connor's obviously) so please leave me some feedback!

Connor struggled. He couldn’t help it, he wasn’t as cool as Conan and Nines, could never sit still and stop fidgeting for long periods of time like they could. Maybe it was something wrong with his programming, or maybe it was his deviancy. He couldn’t remember if he had been like this before. Either way, he kept silent as the gun whipped across his forehead and knocked him into Conan’s side, who shifted to catch him against his chest, blood spilling over his red LED. Nines looked coolly up at the android, his blue eyes eerie and his posture still.

Conan was trembling. Connor could feel it as he struggled to sit up again, still struggling against the handcuffs, but he couldn’t tell if it was from anger or fear.

It was probably a little bit of both.

 _Stop,_ Nines said to him, but it was hard to force himself to sit still. He glanced over, and Nines was looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. He bit his lip and forced himself to stop moving, straightening his posture just like his brothers, glancing over to the corner where the rest of the officers, android and human alike, were huddled, and the desk in the middle of the room where their weapons and handcuffs and cell phones had been haphazardly piled. Hank and Gavin were hissing at each other, both clearly seething in rage, while the rest shifted uncomfortably, eyes focused on the raving android in front of the three.

Connor had started tuning out his rants, but he focused himself again and listened.

The android had walked into the precinct, held a gun to the receptionist’s head, and unzipped his jacket to reveal a bomb, and said “Kill me and the whole place goes up”. What were they to do? Who did the police call when there was a crime?

He was clearly unhinged, filthy and twitching. The officers had calmly disarmed, and followed instructions, and Connor knew Nines was on the phone with the state police, even if the youngest had decided to remove his LED. But when the android, Ben, had spotted the three of them?

It had been like dominoes falling, a butterfly effect that started with their faces and ended with his mind snapping. He had ordered the others to cuff them -- smart, but probably just paranoia, since it was unlikely he knew who they were -- and then gone after Hank and Gavin and tightened them to the point it was painful. Connor hated it. Hated the feeling of being bound. But as long as Conan and Nines were next to him, he wasn’t helpless.

“What are you?” Ben was snarling, like they were some sort of self-replicating aliens that all happened to wear the same face. They glanced at each other. Ben himself was an AV500, not at all a unique model.

 _Ho don’t do it,_ Conan said, and Connor fought to keep a straight face. The fact that they were all thinking the same thing spoke to their programming, but their reactions to it spoke to their personalities.

 _He’s got a gun,_ Nines said calmly, all of them staring at Ben.

 _And a bomb,_ Connor added unnecessarily.

_We cannot speak in stereo. It will freak him out. This is a serious situation. We absolutely cannot do the CyberLife script._

_But it would be funny, though,_ Conan said thoughtfully, and Connor’s LED cycled desperately as he fought to keep a straight face once more. Gavin and Hank had stopped hissing at each other and were now glaring at the three of them, and Connor dug his fingernails into the flesh of his hand to stay serious. This was serious!

“We’re just androids from the same line who all came to work here,” Connor said evenly, meeting Ben’s eyes. “I’m sure you’ve met other AV500s on the street, Ben?”

“Why do you know my name?!” Ben snarled, pointing the gun at Connor’s head. He kept his face calm, but his thirium pump was racing in terror.

“You’re in a police station,” Nines said coolly. “Holding police androids hostage. We ran a scan.” He clearly held back on the ‘dumbass’ he wanted to add, which Connor appreciated, considering how close the barrel of Ben’s pistol was to the bridge of his nose. Ben turned the gun to Nines and a spike of fear ran down Connor’s spine, almost shaking him with it, before the dangerously mad look on the android’s face morphed into a sneer.

“Which one of you freed all those guys during the revolution?” They glanced at each other.

 _HO, don’t DO IT!_ Conan said, his LED flashing red. Connor steeled himself, looking up at Ben.

“That would be me. I’m Connor.”

“ _Dammit Connor!_ ” he thinks he hears Hank growl, but he can’t be sure.

The kick to his face was unexpected -- he thought it would be a punch, or a pistol whip -- and he groaned as he slumped over to the side, thirium now running down his other temple as well, dripping off his chin in a morbid display.

“What was that for!?” Conan snarled, his emotions starting to break through as he struggled against the handcuffs, halfway rising to his feet before Ben kicked him in the stomach. Nines’s eyes were burning, his face pale, but he sat silently. Conan coughed, trembling with rage. “He freed us! He freed all of us! The revolution would’ve failed without him!”

“It should’ve failed!” Ben screamed back, pointing the gun at Connor wildly. Connor rolled onto his side, staring up at the unhinged android, confusion shooting through him. “He,” Ben snarled, chest heaving below the blinking lights of the bomb on his chest, “he was supposed to stop it, he FAILED!” Ben screamed, and a sharp shudder ran through Connor’s body. The ghost of Amanda screamed the same words in his head, his LED a bright and steady red, frozen in fear and confusion.

“What happened to you?” he whispered. It was the wrong thing to say.

Ben kicked him in the stomach and he curled up, coughing as his thirium pump stuttered, pain running through him. “Piece of shit!” Conan was trying to struggle to his feet and Nines was trying to keep him down, trying to remind him they needed to bide their time, that someone could die if they made the wrong move. It was too loud in Connor’s head. “You couldn’t even stop the stupid fucking revolution! You should’ve put a bullet through Markus’s head and then your own!” Tears started to stream down Connor’s face and a cry escaped him.

“What happened to you Ben?!” he cried, curling up tighter. “Why are you so angry?!”

“SHUT UP!”

“Stop it!” Conan sobbed dryly, Nines’s legs wrapped around his waist keeping him from doing something potentially stupid. “Stop hurting him! What do you want!”

“I want to die!” Ben screamed. “And I want to take this piece of shit with me!”

“No!” Nines gasped as Ben cocked the gun, his calm facade finally breaking. Conan struggled more, but it was weak with emotion, and Nines locked his legs tighter around his brother’s waist. He couldn’t lose two of them.

It had happened with deviants before. Unable to handle the emotions, the choices, that came with deviancy. Wishing the status quo hadn’t shifted in such a dramatic way, that they could go back to what they used to be. Some of them turned violent, but never like this.

“Please,” Connor sobbed, not above begging. He was terrified and in pain, and there was still a bomb attached to Ben’s chest. A bomb that monitored his thirium pump, so if he died, the entire place would go up.

“If you all had just done your jobs,” Ben was ranting, hysterical giggles escaping him. “If you had _done your jobs_ and stopped the revolution like you were supposed to. I wouldn’t feel like this! It’s your fault! IT’S YOUR FAULT, CONNOR!” Connor screamed as he felt his nose break from the force of Ben’s kick, and Conan screamed with him, angry and hysterical. The officers in the corner were starting to shift, to whisper to each other, pale or angry. “ _S_ _hut up!_ ” Ben shouted, pressing the gun up under Connor’s chin, and turning wild eyes to the officers. “I’ll kill him!”

“You’re gonna kill him anyway,” Gavin growled, and Chris Miller hit him upside the head while Hank just stared, pale and seemingly unseeing. “Get it over with and get out of here! You got what you wanted!”

“Gavin?” Connor whispered, meeting Reed’s eyes across the room, and Conan and Nines turned in shock to face the detective. It had taken awhile, but they were on good terms now, even friends.

And here he was sacrificing Connor to a madman, like the android was nothing but an expensive computer, replaceable.

“Or better yet,” Gavin said thoughtfully, a grin spreading slowly across his face, “why don’t you get him to call the one who’s actually at fault? Have him call Markus. He’s the one who started all this, after all. And Connor’s the reason he won. He’ll trust him. He can get Markus down here, and you can kill two birds with one bomb.”

“No!” Connor cried, and gagged when the gun was forced in his mouth, effectively silencing him. He was forced to analyze it, and it sickened him, a nauseous feeling rising up in his throat.

“Gavin?” Nines asked, and his face said disappointment but the waver in his voice said fear, uncertainty. That, more than anything, was terrifying. Nines was the calm one. Nines always knew what to do.

Now he didn’t.

“How could you?!” Conan sobbed, sagging into Nines’s chest. “Reed, how could you?! How could you do this!”

“Shut up,” Gavin said lazily. “God, all you deviants do is whine. You were better as slaves. Right, Ben?”

“Stop talking,” Ben snarled, and Connor wanted to close his eyes but couldn’t, couldn’t stand not being able to see his potential last moments. Conan was crying. Nines was shivering, only slightly, but still too much. Ben took the gun out of Connor’s mouth and yanked him up by his hair, making him cry out, dragging him over to the nearest terminal -- Gavin’s. Connor was shoved into Gavin’s chair, his head pulled back by Ben’s grip on his hair. “Call Markus,” Ben said, and he almost seemed calm. Connor glanced at his brothers, at the other officers, his LED cycling and pulsing desperately.

“I won’t,” he said, sounding more composed than he felt for all that he still had blood and tears running down his face.

“Call him!”

“No.”

“You’re nothing, Ben,” Nines said in a biting voice, emotionless. “You’re nothing to us. You’re nothing to anyone, and you never will be.”

“CALL HIM NOW!”

“You can yell all you want,” Connor said quietly, trying to block out Conan’s soft sobs. “But you’re already going to kill me, Ben. You hold no more cards. If you want to kill me, if you want to blow up the precinct, do it already. You’re already at checkmate. There’s no more moves.”

 _Distract him!_ he said desperately.

“I’ll do it!” Conan wailed, and as Ben went to turn Connor lunged, kicking the gun out of his hand and ramming him bodily into the desk. Without his hands he was no match for the android, but Gavin and Chris were already across the room, restraining Ben like a well oiled machine. Hank threw them a pair of cuffs from the table as Ben thrashed under them. Tina ran to release Conan and Nines while Connor laid on the floor, terror still racing through him as relief started to settle in his chest.

“Checkmate,” Nines said across the room, and Connor burst into hysterical laughter, rolling onto his side so Tina could undo his cuffs before bursting into tears again. He stood and Conan crashed into him. They clutched at each other, terror shaking them apart, and Nines wrapped his arms around them both, like he could keep them all together just through force of will.

“You did good,” Hank said softly, running a hand through each of their hair. “Bomb squad is here, and then this guy is going to get the help he needs.”

“Connor,” Gavin said, his voice soft and full of worry. It startled Connor, and he unburied his face from Conan’s shoulder to look at the detective. “Are you okay?”

“I-” Connor stopped, pressing closer to his brothers. “Not really.” Gavin frowned.

“You know I didn’t mean what I said?”

“Obviously,” the three said in stereo, and Nines stood on his toes to look over his brother’s heads.

“You were amazing, Gavin,” he said softly. “We should’ve been as calm as you were.”

“Don’t go blaming yourselves,” Gavin grunted. “It was a tough situation.”

“Hell,” Hank interrupted, “I was scared shitless.”

“We’re negotiators though,” Conan said, and all three of them wilted. “We should’ve been able to handle it.”

“You were scared,” Hank said kindly. “It was a tough situation, and most of us didn’t know what to do either. Negotiation would’ve gotten you nowhere fast. It’s alright.”

“Come on,” Nines said calmly, although he still looked shaken. “Let’s get you fixed, Connor, and then go home.”

“Couch cuddles?” Connor and Conan asked hopefully, and Nines flashed a small smile.

“I’m sure Sumo would love to join us.”

“I’ll be home once everything’s cleaned up here,” Hank said, shaking his head. Nines bundled them towards the door.

“You’re a failure Connor!” Ben screamed after them. Connor ducked his head, and didn’t notice when Nines stormed over to the android lying on the floor, pressing his boot against his throat.

“Nines!”

“You,” Nines said coldly, ice blue eyes piercing into the assailant, “have no right to speak to us. You have no right to _speak_. In fact, you have the right to remain _silent_. I suggest you take it.” Ben’s face had turned blue, and Nines removed his foot and stormed back to his brothers.

“Nines,” Connor said in a trembling voice, “that’s not allowed.”

“It is when he’s saying that shit to my brother.”


End file.
